Clarity is one of the most useful things we can give our teams as leaders. When we communicate clearly, our people know what we expect and why it matters, so they can make good decisions without needing oversight. Priorities are one area of leadership where clarity is essential. When priorities are unclear, whatever feels most urgent often takes over, and we spend more time reacting than acting with purpose. It’s not that our teams aren’t trying; often, they focus on what they think are the top priorities unless given guidance. As leaders, it’s our job to provide that.
To lead our teams well, we first need to understand our own roles. This starts before we say anything to the team: deciding what matters most and knowing it well enough to explain why. Then our job is to protect or redefine these priorities when new challenges or tasks arise.
When priorities are clear, it’s easier for us and our teams to make the right decisions. Setting clear expectations and standards before changes or problems arise helps hold people accountable. Over time, our teams trust us more because they know things won’t change without a clear reason.
Self-Assessment:
Confusion to Clarity
Please take a few moments to reflect on the following questions. Where can you identify opportunities for personal growth in your leadership?
When priorities compete, do I specify what comes first, or do I leave it up to my team to decide?
Before I name a priority, do I check in with the people it affects, or do I decide on my own?
When I give direction, do I explain why it matters along with what needs to be done?
When something new comes up, do I explain what task it replaces or delays?
Can my team clearly explain our top priorities in simple terms, or am I the only one who understands them?
Have I noticed skilled team members hesitate because they weren’t sure which priority or standard mattered most?
When I see confusion, do I step in to clear things up right away, or do I just hope it sorts itself out?
Before people start a task, do I identify the standard by telling them what a good outcome looks like?
This self-assessment is a starting point for understanding Clarity. Reflect on your responses, identify areas for growth, and use feedback from others and your ECFL Facilitator to guide your development.
Leading and managing often fall to the same person, but each role asks something different of us. Management keeps day-to-day work organized and running smoothly. Leadership aligns the team’s direction and clarifies their focus so they’re set up for excellence. Both roles are important, but priority-setting begins with leadership.
Leaders:
Decide what’s most important and explain it in a way people can act on.
Set a clear direction and stick to it, even when circumstances change.
Guide people through uncertainty by naming the focus rather than leaving it open to interpretation.
Connect everyday tasks to the team’s direction so everyone knows why their work matters.
Managers:
Organize work, assign tasks, and make sure commitments are met.
Maintain consistent performance and track results.
Remove obstacles and fix problems as they come up.
Remind people of standards and keep everyone on schedule.
Before you can set priorities for others, you must set them for yourself. Conflicting responsibilities come up in your own work as often as they do for your team. When priorities compete, a few questions can help you decide. Ask yourself:
What’s the cost if I make the wrong choice?
Example: A client wants a proposal by Friday, and a billing error turns up. The late proposal means an uncomfortable conversation, while the error costs money every time it repeats.
Is the deadline fixed or flexible?
Example: A date promised to a customer is fixed, while an internal target to finish the department audit by Friday can move if something more important comes up.
Which choice would be difficult to undo later, and which could still be repaired after the fact?
Example: A report with formatting errors can be corrected and resent, but a team member who hears about a role change from a coworker first can’t unhear it.
Not every conflict is one you’ve created. Sometimes you’re caught in the middle, where two superiors each give you an important assignment without having checked with each other beforehand. Or maybe your calendar is so full of meetings that these priorities keep getting moved down the list.
Priority-setting doesn’t sound complicated in theory, but in practice, unforeseen or random variables often disrupt plans. Maybe your overpacked schedule means you don't have time to explain the rationale for your decisions, so you just go ahead and hope to explain it later. With new demands constantly rolling in, even the best of us can become overwhelmed. However, adding them to your growing list without first deciding on their importance does both you and your team a disservice.
“Good things happen not by managing time, but by prioritizing attention.”
Teams act on the priorities they understand, so the way we communicate them matters as much as the decisions behind them.
We create confusion when we:
… assume our message was clear because it made sense to us
… update the team on what we care about instead of what affects their work
… describe a priority with broad words like “quality” or “customer focus”
… pass along every request from above without sorting it first
… put off a hard choice so no one gets disappointed
… change priorities from one week to the next
… assume the team is spending time where we’d want them to
… add more check-ins when the real problem is unclear priorities
“Instead of saying ‘I don’t have time,’ try saying ‘it’s not a priority,’ and see how that feels.”
A few of these play out in the following story, where a leader who’s working hard to maintain forward progress ultimately leaves their team guessing about what matters most.
Recalibrating Priorities
Aperture Labs had built its reputation on precision and responsiveness, and the pace stayed high because expectations stayed high. Gladys, a department lead, was known for staying on top of issues and keeping things moving. When a new request came in, timelines were adjusted. When senior leadership changed focus, an update was passed along quickly.
Over time, her team’s morale started to drop. It wasn’t because they couldn’t keep up, but because expectations kept changing without any context or explanation. One week the emphasis was speed and responsiveness; the next, quality and documentation; and now, a new cost initiative was being introduced. No one specified which should come first. Nothing was removed from their workload, and no one said what could wait. Each change was important, but the team didn’t have a clear answer to a basic question: which priority is the most important right now?
Work continued, despite decreased engagement. People asked for confirmation more frequently because they were worried about making mistakes. If they didn’t feel comfortable asking, or couldn’t get a clear answer, they moved forward based on what they believed mattered most, even when this conflicted with earlier directions. Some worked on whatever they saw their coworkers prioritizing. More meeting time went to sorting priorities than to planning execution, and this uncertainty carried into day-to-day decisions.
The team’s disengagement became clear when Gladys went over the details of the cost initiative at a team meeting. Where there had once been questions and ideas, the room stayed quiet, and the few responses she got were polite and brief. Afterward, she asked one of her most dependable team members what was wrong and why people seemed so down. The team member hesitated, then explained that each new focus had come with new tasks, and no one had said what to set aside, so people felt like they were falling behind on everything. A few had begun to wonder whether leadership knew where the department was headed, and others had stopped bringing ideas forward at all, since anything they started might be replaced by the next announcement.
When Gladys heard this, she saw how each update had looked from her team’s side. Each change had made sense to her, so she assumed it made sense to everyone, and she had passed each one along without explaining why it mattered or what could wait. The team still cared about the work, but they no longer trusted her leadership.
Instead of passing updates along as they came in, Gladys did what she should have done earlier. Before deciding anything, she went to senior leadership to ask how the cost initiative ranked compared with the other two priorities, and they agreed it could start once the current work was finished. She picked one priority to lead with, created a detailed plan around it, and then shared it in writing. The plan explained why this priority mattered, what she expected as the standard of excellence, and what could wait until the work was complete. Finally, she put the next check-in on the calendar with a note about what would be reviewed, so the team knew what she’d be following up on and when. By the next check-in, the team’s enthusiasm had started to return.
When Gladys passed along each update, what did she assume her team understood, and how could she have checked?
When a request from above conflicts with what your team is already working on, what do you do with it before passing it along?
Think of a time a change in direction left you confused about priorities. What could leadership have done then to help? What might this tell you about how you handle changes with your team?
Leaders should check new priorities against a “North Star,” or a single, long-term vision. Each new priority should help move the team closer to this goal. Here are some best practices to help guide your team from confusion to clarity:
Choose Your Top 3 Priorities and Commit: Don’t give people a long list of tasks and then be surprised when they feel overwhelmed. Pick the three most important priorities and explain them clearly, with enough detail to set your team up to succeed. Stick with these priorities long enough for your team to make progress. If you change priorities too often, you can create uncertainty, lower motivation, and decrease engagement.
Keep Priorities Visible: People are unlikely to remember a spoken list. Write down your priorities and put them somewhere the team can see them, like a shared tracker, whiteboard, or sticky note. This helps everyone stay consistent and makes accountability easier.
Encourage Questions: If someone asks for more clarity, don’t blame them. Instead, praise and encourage people who admit when they don’t understand and who ask for help. Growth depends on both.
Protect What’s Important: New tasks will always come up, but not all of them should replace your current guidance. When a new assignment arrives, decide if it should be a top priority. If it is, say what it replaces or what can wait. If not, save it for later.
Reinforce and Follow Up: Saying something once in a meeting isn’t enough. People’s attention can drift, and they may interpret your message differently depending on their workload. Bring up priorities in conversations and revisit them often. Regular check-ins with your team can help make sure they’re making progress.
Confirm Understanding: Don’t assume everyone is on the same page. Ask individuals what they think the current priorities are and listen to their answers. If there are differences, you’ll know where to clarify your direction.
.
This month, read Gallup’s article, “How to Improve Leadership Alignment.” It discusses what happens when leaders are aligned on direction and priorities, and what can go wrong when they aren’t. As you read, think about how clarity influences both alignment and engagement. Also, consider how your approach to communicating priorities reflects your organization’s culture.